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Fig. 2.7. The ‘Hovey’ strawberry. (From Wilhelm and Sagen, 1974.)
Table 2.2. Dominant Fragaria × ananassa cultivars in North America before 2000. (From Darrow, 1966; Hancock, 1996; Brooks and Olmo, 1997.)
‘Hovey’ often proved to have low fruit set, the basis of which led to considerable horticultural debate (Fletcher, 1917). It had been known in Europe since 1760 that strawberries could have separate genders, but Americans were not aware of this work and for a decade from 1840 to 1850 debate raged among horticultural societies as to the nature of ‘Hovey’s’ unproductiveness. Hovey himself originally asserted that his cultivar was perfect, but eventually had to recant under pressure from Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The release of ‘Hovey’ stimulated a great deal of interest in strawberries throughout the country and numerous private individuals began making crosses and growing seedlings. The variety that had the largest immediate impact was ‘Wilson’ (1851), developed by James Wilson in New York. It played an important role in expanding the North American strawberry industry from a few thousand hectares to hundreds of thousands. It produced large, dependable crops even under indifferent care and its flowers were bisexual, eliminating the need for a pollinator. The fruit of ‘Wilson’ were larger and more attractive than that of its predecessors and were firm enough to ship long distances. Unfortunately, its flavour was very sour but its other strengths led to the liberal use of the sugar bowl.
Several important cultivars were developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s to meet the need of the burgeoning strawberry industry (Darrow, 1937, 1966). Some of the most successful were W. Parmalee’s ‘Crescent’ (Conneticut, 1876), J. Sharpless’s ‘Sharpless’ (Pennsylvania, 1872), Neunan’s ‘Neunan’ (South Carolina, 1868), M. Ewell’s ‘Marshall’ (Massachusetts, 1890), C. Loftus’s ‘Banner’ (California, about 1890), E. Cruse’s ‘Aroma’ (Kansas, 1892), J. Beaver’s ‘Nich Ohmer’ (Ohio, 1898) and S. Cooper’s ‘Pan American’ (New York, 1898). ‘Neunan’ was a seedling of ‘Wilson’ and became the standard in the south-eastern USA in the late 1800s because it was a little less dark and a touch firmer than ‘Wilson’ in hot climates. ‘Crescent’ and ‘Sharpless’ were second and third to ‘Wilson’ in popularity from 1880 to 1900. ‘Wilson’ was pistillate and ‘Sharpless’ was commonly used as its pollinator. ‘Marshall’ was only a modest success in the east where it was bred, but it became a major variety in the Pacific Northwest and California from 1905 to almost 1960, because of its high flavour and how well it could be frozen and preserved. ‘Pan American’ was notable as the first really successful everbearing variety. Although it was widely planted in gardens, its greatest importance was as a parent and was a major source of the everbearing trait until Powers and Bringhurst utilized native populations of F. virginiana ssp. glauca(see Chapter 8, this volume). ‘Nich Ohmer’ was not successful in its state of origin, Ohio, due to its low vigour, susceptibility to leaf spot and its small, only fair-flavoured fruit, but it was widely grown in California in the 1920s and 1930s because of its long fruiting season. It is in the genetic background of most successful California cultivars.
‘Banner’ (‘Sweet Briar’) was discovered in an abandoned strawberry patch by C. Loftus on his farm in Sweet Briar, California (Wilhelm and Sagen, 1974). Its early importance was limited due to insufficient runner production, but it rapidly grew in prominence in the Central Valley from 1904 until the mid-1930s, when it was found that it could be successfully propagated in northern California. The berries of the ‘Banner’ strawberry were large, regularly conical in shape, bright red and had a wonderful taste and fragrance. It may have been a seedling or runner descendant of ‘Marshall’.
Some of the most important varieties developed in the early part of the 20th century (Darrow, 1966) were Rev. J. Reasoner’s ‘Dunlap’ (Illinois, 1900), N. Gohn’s ‘Missionary’ (Virginia, 1900), R. Cloud’s ‘Klondike’ (Louisiana, 1901), A. and E. Howard’s ‘Howard 17’ or ‘Premier’ (Massachusetts, 1915) and J. Kuhn’s ‘Aberdeen’ (New Jersey, 1923). ‘Dunlap’ dominated acreage in the northern states and Canada for the first 50 years of the century, because of its extreme hardiness. It was used widely as a parent in everbearing breeding, even though it was a short-day type. ‘Missionary’ was also important for about 50 years, as one of the first really good low-chilling varieties, performing well even in the semi-tropics of Florida. It was also an excellent parent in breeding of warm-climate types. ‘Howard 17’ (‘Premier’) was a major eastern cultivar for at least 40 years both as a commercial cultivar and breeding parent. It is found in the ancestry of most North American and many European cultivars, and it was particularly noted for its resistance to leaf diseases and viruses, formation of many crowns, frost-hardy flowers and high productivity. ‘Aberdeen’ was grown in the 1930s in New Jersey and the east but may have found its greatest importance as a breeding source for red stele resistance in both European and North American cultivars.
The most active breeder around the turn of the century was probably Albert Etter of California who developed dozens of varieties utilizing native F. chiloensis clones (Wilhelm and Sagen, 1974; Fishman, 1987). His most successful variety was ‘Ettersburg 80’ (1910), which was widely grown in California, Europe, New Zealand and Australia. Renamed as ‘Huxley’, it was still popular in England as late as 1953. ‘Ettersburg 80’ was extremely drought resistant, of outstanding dessert and jam quality due to its solid bright red colour and was unusually hardy for a California type. Other outstanding Etter varieties were ‘Ettersburg 121’, ‘Fendalcino’ and ‘Rose Ettersburg’. Although his releases were very successful as cultivars, they may have had their greatest impact as breeding parents. Almost all California cultivars (and many others) have an Ettersburg variety in their background (Darrow, 1937, 1966; Sjulin and Dale, 1987).
In the 1930s and early 1940s, several new cultivars became important across the USA including the great US Department of Agriculture (USDA) breeder G. Darrow’s ‘Blakemore’ (USDA-MD, 1929) and ‘Fairfax’ (USDA-MD/NC, 1933), G. Slate’s ‘Catskill’ (New York, 1933), K. Keplinger’s ‘Gem’ (Michigan, 1933), J. Haley’s ‘Robinson’ (Michigan, 1940) and E. Henry’s ‘Tennessee Beauty’ (Tennessee, 1943). ‘Blakemore’ became the major southern variety in the mid-1930s until the early 1960s because of its earliness, firm, bright-red berries, suitability for freezing and preserving, and disease resistance. ‘Blakemore’ was used extensively in breeding, finding its way into the ancestry of a diverse array of cultivars grown in all parts of the USA. ‘Tennessee
